Tag: Civic engagement

Voters are the engine that drives progress and holds this nation accountable. But that undeniable power requires more than just showing up at your polling place; you must be prepared before you step inside the voting booth. Between shifting voter ID requirements, updated polling locations, and confusing precinct boundaries, making your voice heard requires strategy. Before heading to the polls, ensure you're registered, know your polling location and hours, confirm your state's required ID, and double-check your ballot.

Black people fought too hard for the right to vote to sit on the sidelines when it comes to running elections. Now, ahead of the 2026 U.S. midterm elections, the effort to recruit more Black poll workers is a critical part of ensuring our communities have a hand in the democratic process.

Friday marks National Black Voter Day, a moment to mobilize Black voters as the country heads toward the midterm elections. It's also a time to shine a spotlight on the issues Black voters should be watching that could make it more difficult to cast their vote. This year, that includes battles over congressional maps, changes to mail-in voting and questions surrounding the role of federal law enforcement in elections.

Nearly 700,000 people live in Washington. We work, raise our children, serve in the armed forces, and pay federal taxes at a higher rate per person than residents of any state. Not one of us can cast a vote that counts in Congress. How did the capital of a self-governing nation come to deny self-government to the people who live in it? The answer runs through the city's history. When Black Washingtonians gained political power in 1867, Congress abolished the city's elected government and handed control to three presidential appointees. Direct federal rule lasted a century.

Morehouse graduate and Omega Psi Phi brother Noah McQueen is turning service into a national movement. His organization, Lifting Our Voices, has fed over 125,000 families, mobilized volunteers, and created service chapters on campuses nationwide.